A local company is INVESTING in some potential new hires. Of course they have to wait until they graduate from high school.

As Shawn Cunningham reports, it’s a unique program that’s INSURING young people are educated and qualified to take on a whole host of careers in Aroostook County.

00:00 Presque Isle

Presentations happen everyday in the conference rooms of MMG Insurance. But THIS ONE is quite unique.The presenters are actually students from Presque Isle High School expounding all they’ve learned about the insurance industry. This takes confidence, communication and clarity. Skills these kids clearly have. A result of the solid investment MMG is making, as part of the INVEST in kids pilot program.

Andy Churchill is a Personal Lines Underwriter for MMG and says “We introduced it to presque isle high school as our flagship school and the intent is really to get some business and finance students involved in a future insurance career.”

“We hope to offer this in more communities its been a really great opportunity this year to see how it goes and it looks like kids are getting a lot out of this from what we’ve seen today there are some great presentations,” adds Chris Maple a Programmer/Analyst for the company.

MMG employees act as InVEST liaisons and interact with students opening up their young eyes to the insurance industry. They’re exposed to job shadow days, internships and of course possible careers upon graduation.

And while learning about future careers is one thing in the classroom, presenting to a potential future employer makes all they’re learned more real. Its important for the next generation of workers.

Aaron Kofstad is a student at Presque Isle High School and says “I thought it was interesting how life insurance worked and there’s a lot of things that are unseen and things you might need to pay for later on in the future.”

“It really opened our eyes to not just buying insurance for ourselves actually having careers in insurance and now that we actually get to come here get to see everything how it works out and them present to us rather than reading from a textbook,” adds Clarissa Buck another Student.

Churchill says “I think its important we showcase what we’re so proud of here our facility, our culture, our work ethic and the fact that MMG is a premier employer in our community we enjoy giving back and this selfishly serves us by acting as a feeder system into our future employee base.”